The Nigerian equities market closed on a bearish note on Tuesday as widespread profit-taking and sell-offs in medium and large-capitalised stocks dragged down the overall performance of the bourse.
Consequently, the All-Share Index dipped by 874.00 points, representing a loss of 0.35 per cent to close at 246,686.66 points, while the total market capitalisation depreciated by N479bn to settle at N158.219tn.
This negative performance was heavily impacted by losses recorded in prominent equities, including PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Exchange Group, FBN Holdings, Wema Bank and Zenith Bank Plc.
Market breadth remained decisively weak throughout the trading session, reflecting a dominant bearish sentiment with 37 decliners outperforming just 14 gainers.
On the losers’ chart, PZ Cussons Nigeria and CWG led the decline, shedding 10 per cent each to close at N88.20 and N21.60, respectively, followed closely by Associated Bus Company, which dropped 9.95 per cent to close at N6.88 per share. Wema Bank also depreciated 9.09 per cent to close at N30.00, while Sovereign Trust Insurance shed 8.16 per cent to close at N2.70 per share.
Conversely, some stocks managed to buck the broader market trend, led by International Energy Insurance, which recorded the highest price gain of 9.86 per cent to close at N5.46 per share. Trans-Nationwide Express followed with an appreciation of 7.14 per cent to close at N5.10, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals rose 6.80 per cent to close at N11.00 per share.
Other notable gainers included Living Trust Mortgage Bank, which ticked up 5.00 per cent to close at N4.20, and Abbey Mortgage Bank, which appreciated 4.44 per cent to close at N7.05 per share.
Despite these isolated gains, market activity levels slowed significantly as the total volume traded declined sharply by 47.9 per cent to 587.64 million units, valued at N23.06bn, and exchanged in 63,954 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings topped the activity chart by volume with 113.096 million shares valued at N2.707bn, while Zenith Bank followed closely with 38.091 million shares worth N4.806bn. Other highly traded equities included Consolidated Hallmark Holdings, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals and Sterling Financial Holdings Company.